Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Are you acquainted with The Pizzookie? Or are you giving me/your monitor a funny look right now? You're in good company if you are. When I offered P a pizzookie, his initial response was a raised eyebrow and "what is that? sounds dirty..." Well one bite was all it took to make him a believer (plus it's hard to maintain a smirk when your mouth is full of cookie dough ^_^).

I think of pizzookies as cookies on steroids. You simply start with almost any cookie dough, press it into some oven-safe dishes, bake just long enough to set the edges, then hit 'em with the best vanilla ice cream ya got. It sounds simple enough, but when you experience your first mouthful of warm n' gooey meets cool n' creamy, it's like arriving in a brave new (cookie) world. The take-home message is: If you like cookies, ice cream and all that's good on this green earth, you need some pizookie in your life.XD

And while we're aiming for the ultimate cookie experience, let's talk butter. No ordinary "room temperature" butter will do for the true cookie connoisseur. What we want, need iswarm, aromatic browned butter. Despite being a self-proclaimed "foodie" for years, I'd somehow missed this amazing ingredient! Never imagining that a few minutes of stove time could give my cookies such complex, nutty flavor. Trust you me, I'll be playing with this butter in all sorts of sweet and salty dishes going forward. With gratitude for inspiring me to discover a new ingredient, I'm sending these pizzookies over to Elissa of 17 and Baking, our lovely host, for the browned butter edition of Sugar High Fridays.

XIAOLU'S NOTES: Not that it's rocket science =D, but it never hurts to have some visual guidelines when you're cooking with precious buttah in a new way. Elise over at Simply Recipes has a nifty tutorial for browning butter with lotsa purdy photos.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.

Heat a pan on medium heat. Add butter slices and melt in pan. Stir continuously. Butter will foam up. After foam subsides, small brown flecks will start to appear in bottom of pan. Continue stirring, until butter has reached a nice brown color, and nutty aroma. Remove from heat at this point. Don't heat it any more or it may burn.

Add browned butter and sugar to your stand mixer bowl. Mix well. Add in egg and vanilla, and mix them in thoroughly. Slowly stir in the flour mixture. Finally, add and evenly distribute the chocolate chips by mixing.

Scoop dough into individual ramekins. Sprinkle some pecans on top (they get toasty in the oven!). Bake for 8-10 minutes. Your pizzookies are ready when the edges are cooked, but the center is still gooey. Top with vanilla ice cream and gobble it up!

If you want to make these as normal cookies, just roll them into 1" balls and bake about 10-13 minutes until the edges are just set.

Ok, these are going on my "NEED TO BAKE ASAP!!!!!" list. I've only recently discovered the wonders of browned/burnt butter and these would be the perfect way of consuming it in gratifyingly large amounts!

Fantastic! I just saw these pictures yesterday on Flickr and really wanted the recipe to be up but it wasn't yet. I wake up and decide to refresh the screen and then BAM there it is.Great start to a great day.From the pictures I'd thought you'd managed to use the cookie to seal in the ice cream. It still sounds wonderful all the same.

I saw your photo on Food Gawker and it immediately caught my attention, it is so perfect! The Pizzookie is so mouthwatering looking, I didn't know what it was. But wow that looks like a great treat. Thanks for sharing the recipe and tips on links.

The method to making these is brilliant! I love how they're just baked long enough to set the edges...I can imagine that amazing gooey interior! As if it could get any better, it's made with browned butter!! Love.

Oh my goodness, this looks amazing. I'd never heard of pizzookie... it's like molten lava cake, but in cookie form, which just makes it better. I can't wait to try this. Thank you for the genius idea!!!

Indonesia Eats - yea I really thought more people had heard about them, especially the food bloggers. well I'm glad I got to spread the joy.

Delishhh - Hope you get to try it and love it as much as I do :).

Elle - Don't worry about them. This is worth waking up for ;p.

Agnes - That is one downside of these. Normal cookies just seem plain after pizzookies hehe.

Hannah - the ratio is definitely great. even more so probably if you use a vegan cookie dough without eggs. I baked these 2 minutes longer to try to be a bit safer in light of the salmonella egg recalls.

I have actually known what a Pizzookie is for several years now because a local pizzaria serves them and they are my family's favorite dessert. Yours look incredible and even better than our good old "stand by". I will certainly be trying this version soon! http://ambitionskitchen.blogspot.com

OOo, I think I actually gasped when I was the pictures on your blog. The pizzzzookie sounds and looks incredible. I love brown butter too. Eric Kayser's matcha tea tart uses it, and its one of my favorite recipes ever.

just found this recipe through pinterest (yay!). just made them and you're not kidding--browning the butter makes ALL the difference in the world! they are sitting in 6 1-cup ramekins right now and i'll put them in oven while we're having dinner. question - it seems like a small amount of dough spread out between 6 ramekins. will they rise a bit during baking? thanks for this fabulous recipe-can't wait to take a bite!

Hi Nancy! Thanks for your comment, and yes, browning butter makes an incredible difference =D. The pizzookies will rise some during baking, but they're also not meant to be very thick. Just a little thicker than your average cookie. Hope you enjoyed it!

I just made these tonight. I am a huge chocolate chip cookie fan, they're my favorite dessert. This was also the first time I've ever browned butter. Can I just say- Oh my gosh. They were so yummy- my new favorite cookie. I think these are all I'll make from now on. :)

Let me just say on its own this is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I've made! I decided to attempt making browned butter for the first time (that tutorial link was a wonderful guide!) & made this recipe for my boyfriend & his visiting brother because there's a restaurant where we used to live that makes pizookie. This was even BETTER! Thank you for making me the hero of the night :) You might like my family's recipe for cream cheese gems!